Fragments of a Mind Left Behind
My favorite shots always ended up being things I did while in the editing or shooting process that I started off thinking were mistakes, they ended up being the...
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My favorite shots always ended up being things I did while in the editing or shooting process that I started off thinking were mistakes, they ended up being the parts of myself I fell in love with the most, I hope you can too.
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Sep, 2020Views
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Awards
Chatter Award
Zenith Award
Curator's Selection
Top Shot Award 22
Spring 21 Award
Treasure Award
Fall Award 2020
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Top Choice
Peer Award
Virtuoso
Emotions
Impressed
Top Ranks
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in the basement of my home out in Erie, PA. It was totally spontaneous and I had absolutely no reason besides the curiosity of the dingy basement as a spark to take some shots!Time
Listen, I consider myself a night owl, but at this time in particular it was going on 6am and I had been taking photos all night. I dragged my poor mother into staying up and taking the shots like this one in particular to make sure my face was in focus. It was insane, at the same time I am setting up equipment and posing-in between I was also coaching and teaching my mom how to press the camera button and how to focus a shot. I did all the work-but it couldn't have came out the way it did without the help of my mother's lucky finger haha!Lighting
Yes so actually, the wall is supposed to be white, I think due in part to the soft box lights I had set up around me and the green colors I was wearing it gave off a tint of green!Equipment
Camera, basic sized lens, tripod, flash, and soft box lights one on each side. And a dingy basement overhead light hahaInspiration
I wanted a self portrait that spoke beyond its comprehension, I wanted people to feel commanded to look at the photo without feeling targeted as an audience-I also wanted to portray many sides of myself that make up who I am.Editing
Yes so the editing-was completely accidental. By this time it was 7:30 am-I had been up without any type of sleep-my eyes half open-trying to teach myself how to edit in a program I had never used before. I found the masking button, (at the time I had no idea what purpose it served in Photoshop) and accidental dragged my finger across the pad taking a circular portion of my face with it. I had no idea how to delete the mistake I made-so instead I dragged other parts of my face, by the time I dragged an eye of mine out around me (as seen in the photo) I had realized this is the perfect representation of everything my head was going through- in terms of art, I carry many different sides of myself-whether it be my long passion for acting, or poetry, or my new found love for creating and writing films and photography. My love for art expands out-but it always ends up circling back around me.In my camera bag
It varies from time to time, but lately it has been a basic tripod, 35mm lens and 55mm lens, ALWAYS a battery charger, my favorite photography book called "READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO LEARN PHOTOGRAPHY" and a couple colored lenses and a flash add-on. Everything else is secondary.Feedback
Play around with your shots! I mean that in every possible way. Whether its in terms of posing, manipulating a shot, or while messing around in post-you never know what the golden ticket will be or how the final product is going to turn out- for me especially, I have found that it is not at all about what technical skills you learned or how to edit that makes for a great photo...What truly ends up making or breaking a piece of art is how much of yourself are you willing to leave behind to create something captivating! As you can see, I was willing to leave pieces of myself scattered in circular fragments all over the place, and I am so glad I made that little mistake looking back. Mistakes in art, aren't every truly mistakes in the end, and I think that is why people tend to feel so connected to my work, I just highlight the human in all of us-flaws and all, you can too!
